Master Grossmith

In 1825 a pamphlet was published publicising this prodigy child actor with the title The Life of the Celebrated Infant Roscius, Master Grossmith of Reading, Berks, only seven years and a quarter Old.

[4] After retiring from the stage William made a second career out of prosthetic limb manufacture.

[5] Their new entertainment for 1836, in three parts, was written expressly for them by George Dibdin Pitt, and performed in King's Lynn, Wisbech and other provincial theatres.

[6] In fact, so well-respected were William Grossmith' products that in 1856 he published a book on the subject: Amputations and Artificial Limbs (or Grossmith on Amputations, Artificial Legs, Hands &c.)[7][8] A painting of Grossmith as Richard in William Shakespeare's Richard III by G. Hancock is in the Victoria and Albert Museum.

[10] Artificial limbs made by Grossmith in his later career are held in the Science Museum.